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Fearsome Creatures of the Lumberwoods: Twenty Chilling Tales from the Wilderness

Hal Johnson (Goodreads Author),

Tom Mead (Illustrator),

Phil Conigliaro (Designer)

3.56 · Rating details · 326 ratings · 96 reviews

Just for kids, twenty bone-chilling tales about the most dangerous fantastical beasts in American folklore. Meet the Snoligoster, who feeds on the shadows of its victims. The Hodag, like a spiny-backed bull-horned rhinoceros. The Hoop Snake, which can chase prey at speeds of up to 60 miles per hour and then, with one sting of its tail, cause it to turn purple, swell up, an ...more

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Hardcover, 165 pages

Published September 8th 2015 by Workman Publishing

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Average rating 3.56 ·

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· 326 ratings · 96 reviews

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Start your review of Fearsome Creatures of the Lumberwoods: Twenty Chilling Tales from the Wilderness

Dec 28, 2019 Hilda rated it really liked it

Shelves: middle-school, horror, giveaways

The scariest things always dwell underneath...
Leaving nothing behind but a hole in the snow and a few drops of blood.

This book reminded me a lot of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them and Tales of the Peculiar. It was creepy and slightly weird and also read like a field guide. It's said to be for fans of Scary Stories: Scary tales to tell in the dark, 9 horror short stories for kids and for all ages but some stories were very gruesome and honestly very scary. I'd definitely only let older ki ...more

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Nov 28, 2016 K.T. Katzmann rated it it was amazing

Recommends it for: People with Dark Senses of Humor

Shelves: monsters, beastiary, cryptids, folklore

". . . if you eat human flesh in Canada, you become a wendigo, an accursed monster, while if you eat human flesh in Paris, you become President of France, if I understand their electoral process correctly."

If that line makes you giggle as I do, read this book.

The original Fearsome Creatures of the Lumberwoods was a 1910 book with awesome tall tale critters and some really uncomfortable racism. This version leaves out the racism and makes the improbable creatures of old lumberjacks inside a humor ...more

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Oct 15, 2015 Teresa Scherping Moulton rated it really liked it

Shelves: 5th-6th, humor, 3rd-4th, fantasy, juvenile, horror

I'm sure you've heard of lions, tigers, bears, wolves, moose, and wild boars. But have you heard of wapaloosies? Snoligosters? Toteroad Shagamaws? Well, dear reader, it's time you learned about the rarer and more dangerous creatures that inhabit our country. Luckily a famed cryptozoologist (a scientist who studies animals like Bigfoot and chupacabras, among others) has written this book to educate you on the dangers that await you in the less inhabited "lumberwoods" of North America. You'll hear ...more

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Dec 04, 2015 Paula rated it it was amazing

Shelves: children-s, great-books-for-middle-grade

"When the first terrashot exploded, Mr. Thompson-Chang, who was trying to ride the fool thing, was turned to dust more or less. Miss Grundy was far enough away from the blast that she only suffered a ruptured eardrum, but she was, tragically, downwind, which meant she inhaled a vast quantity of terrashot spores (as well as, presumably, much of the remaining mass of her late boyfriend)."

There's a kid you know who is going to get a huge kick out of this bestiary.

All my picks for best books to give ...more

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Sep 08, 2018 Cindy rated it liked it

What did I just read?! This wins the prize for most bizarre book. Parts were so ridiculous I was laughing out loud. Others were so strange it was hard to tell that I was reading my English words.

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Nov 17, 2018 Jenny added it

Shelves: ya, mg, research

Delightful!!

(And in no way “just for kids.”)

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Oct 22, 2017 Dyah rated it liked it

Shelves: fantasy, monsters, childrens-illustrated

Surprisingly ridiculous.
But I'm willing to overlook the silly stories because the book format is unique. There are some illustrations that are coated with something that can glow in the dark.

After reading this, I wonder if the author has a grudge towards Frenchmen... ...more

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Feb 06, 2019 Hannah Lewis rated it really liked it

The artwork is gorgeous and most of the stories are well done. It reads like a field guide. The only down side is it’s advertised as a book that glows in the dark but it does not.

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Dec 13, 2020 NayDoubleU rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Awesome

4.5
I loved everything about this book. Super easy and quick read. Another great book for when you dont have time to fully read and get lost in a back. Loved the appendix. Gave it a extra umphh

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Feb 18, 2016 Raina rated it really liked it

Shelves: nonfic, j, creepyish

I have a soft spot for cryptozoology, so this was a shoe-in for me.
According to the opening editor's note (and the internet, which I consulted to confirm), this is based on a book which came out in the early 20th century, written by William Cox, a man with the same name as my maternal great grandfather. Each chapter discusses a different cryptozoological creature, and I'm very uncertain as to whether they're purely from Cox's imagination, or derived from actual fable. Either way, I've never hea ...more

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Oct 23, 2016 Mundie Moms & Mundie Kids rated it liked it

Shelves: 2016-release, mundie-kids-reviews, books-i-own, 2016-reading-challenge

Perfect for kids who love R.L. Stine, this book features stories that will keep you up at night! Perfect for scaring your friends around the camp fire, this is a book that will make it's readers question just how much of these stories are real, or made up...... You definitely won't go walking in the woods at night after reading these stories. Not for the faint of heart, this book is almost as good as visiting a haunted house. There's definitely a few scary stories in this one!

http://mundiekids.b ...more

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Apr 01, 2018 Lukas Holmes rated it it was amazing

A rare interactive treat. All three of my kids gathered around to hear me read and each have taken it in turn to read themselves. The best part is the integration of the glow paint and the way of changes the page it is on. We all would rush to a closet to get the full experience in full dark laughing and gasping as we did. Just wonderful.

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Jan 13, 2016 Shannon rated it it was amazing

Loads of fun. Great read for tween, especially if they enjoy creepy stuff.

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Nov 09, 2017 Dolly rated it liked it

Recommends it for: older children

Shelves: canada, new-england, africa, monsters, france-french, other-usa, australia, south-central-america-mexico, pets, read-but-not-finished-reviewing

Strange collection of short stories about fantastical creatures who are both unusual and deadly. The narrator of the stories purports to be a cryptozoologist and describes in great detail the harrowing experiences of those who encounter the myriad beasts.

The author explains that these stories were either adapted from or borrowed from other myths, folklore, or legends from around the country and reimagined in a new way. He seems to have a particular fascination with mocking the French, but does n Strange collection of short stories about fantastical creatures who are both unusual and deadly. The narrator of the stories purports to be a cryptozoologist and describes in great detail the harrowing experiences of those who encounter the myriad beasts.

The author explains that these stories were either adapted from or borrowed from other myths, folklore, or legends from around the country and reimagined in a new way. He seems to have a particular fascination with mocking the French, but does not explain why.

The black and white pen-and-ink illustrations are gruesome and often intricately detailed. They are also enhanced on many of the pages with glow-in-the-dark designs that dramatically change the image when activated.

But here's the rub. The images have to be exposed to light individually and then, subsequently, to the dark to see the images, and neither I nor the children in our local library's book club had the patience to do it again and again (there are at least eight of them).

And for some reason, the stories just did not engage the readers. The children were excited to read the stories when we first introduced thenbook. We even tested out the glow-in-the-dark designs, with each of us trying a different page.

But when we returned the next month, most were less than enthusiastic about the book. The thrill of the gimmick had faded quickly and the stories were tough to get through.

Even I had to take the tales in small bites. It took me many weeks to finish the stories covering the eighteen creatures, although I admit I would set the book aside for days at a time.

Overall. I applaud the intent of this tome and
I would love to give it more stars, but it just didn't live up to our expectations.

I admit that the cover glowed creepily in the dark and contains a message embedded within the title that I didn't notice right away. So it is quite a creepy book. Just not one that we enjoyed as much as we thought we would.

interesting quote:

"There is precedent for food to have different effects in different regions: For example, if you eat human flesh in Canada, You become a wendigo, an accursed monster; while if you eat human flesh in Paris, you become president of France, if I understand their electoral process correctly." (p. 139) ...more

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Mar 07, 2019 Adan rated it it was amazing

A hilarious compendium of various North American legendary beasts narrated by an unnamed, yet long-lived cryptozoologist who’s clearly gone quite mad and hates Frenchmen for some reason. The creatures contained herein are as absurd as they are fearsome, and I really can’t recommend this book enough.

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Jun 03, 2021 Jessika rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, paranormal, fantasy, horror, middle-grade, short-stories

This was a fun little book—just something silly to pick up after a day at work. At times ridiculous, but it made me giggle. I love that kind of tongue-in-cheek, dry humor.

If you’ve got a kid (or maybe just you yourself) who’s into Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, A Series of Unfortunate Events, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, or Goosebumps, they will definitely enjoy this.

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Jan 31, 2018 Lydia rated it did not like it · review of another edition

I am disappointed with this book. This did not include 20 "Chilling" takes from the wilderness. All the stories were so tongue-in-cheek that there was nothing really frightening about them. The Wapaloosie's revenge description was also kind of in poor taste.

The blurb at the top was if you liked Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, that you would like this book. That is an incorrect statement. Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark was scary. It doubled down on the creep factor with Gammell's illustrat ...more

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May 23, 2017 Room 12 rated it it was amazing

I LOOOOVED this book i want more :)

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Sep 10, 2020 Travis rated it liked it

Shelves: childrens-books, humor, folklore

I'm tempted to give this a 4 because I'm a sucker for glow-in-the-dark stuff, and this book implements it quite well, with the glowing part providing an extra layer of meaning or interest. Some examples: the cover has the glowing words "Fear the woods" picked out from the title, and the lantern glow of the character on the bottom reveals the silhouette of a toothy maw in front, and dead hands reaching up from below; the roperite illustration is overlaid by a glowing cowboy with lasso on a horse, I'm tempted to give this a 4 because I'm a sucker for glow-in-the-dark stuff, and this book implements it quite well, with the glowing part providing an extra layer of meaning or interest. Some examples: the cover has the glowing words "Fear the woods" picked out from the title, and the lantern glow of the character on the bottom reveals the silhouette of a toothy maw in front, and dead hands reaching up from below; the roperite illustration is overlaid by a glowing cowboy with lasso on a horse, as part of the myth of its origin; the Funeral Mountain terrashots are shown exploding; and the acropelter is replaced by a hand reaching out of the page at the reader. Some, like the snow wasset or the Hyampom hog bear are sort of wasted opportunities, just showing the creatures in larger, glowing detail, but overall it was still fun reading the book at night and periodically switching off the light to appreciate the effect. The only downside to this feature is that the ink has a definite texture, and when I first found the book I thought that it had been stained by something unmentionable, it being a library book for children; it is fortunate that was not the case.

In terms of content, the introduction rather accurately explains that it is a deliberately unfaithful re-imagining of Cox's original Fearsome Critters of the Lumberwoods. The creatures included are basically the same (except that for some reason the splinter cat was replaced by the hoop snake) and the order of entries is also the same (except that the hodag was moved to the front of the list), but the contents are quite different. The names (except for agropelter being called acropelter) are the same, as are the forms of the creatures, but the stories told about them vary from the original, sometimes completely, and might incorporate aspects taken from other mythical or folkloric creatures. It is nice to know that the variance is deliberate and intentional: when reading Mythical Creatures of the North Country I was left wondering why creatures described in both halves of that book could sometimes be so different; were the variations true folkloric variants the later author had encountered, or just his own inventions? Instead of the tall-tales style of the original, the descriptions of creatures here are told from the perspective of a single narrator, a sort of larger than life, anachronistic character that reminds me a bit of Mr. Burns from The Simpsons or T Herman Zweibel, the fictional editor of The Onion, though there is probably a better comparison. This narrator seems implicitly to be a fictionalized version of the author (and that interpretation is kind of consistent with Hal Johnson's Goodreads profile), except that at one point he references his "shriveled Jarvik heart", suggesting that there was a distinct narrator character created in development, but not fully fleshed out in the book itself; or else Jarvik refers to something besides a surname.

The descriptions of various creatures are generally fun and clever and contain a healthy dose of amusing French bashing. The are also occasionally a bit gross and/or violent, which probably makes it all the more appealing to the target middle school age audience. ...more

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Nov 07, 2017 Charles added it

The stories are pretty well written if you like tall tales. The illustrations are first rate, and the glow in the dark pictures, while difficult to get to work, are a nice touch. All in all, it's a solid little book. ...more

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Mar 21, 2020 Michael Bower rated it really liked it

The best description of monsters I've ever seen, but heads up some are scarer then others. ...more

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Mar 14, 2020 Randi rated it liked it

Shelves: juv, folklore, 2020, horror, fantasy, illustrated, non-fiction, library-books, adaptation-homage

Irreverent with great illustrations!

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Jul 08, 2015 Bruce Gargoyle rated it it was amazing

Shelves: adventure, arc-reviews, kid-lit, bizarre, middle-grade-fiction, body-parts, review-copy, fantasy, illustrated, aesthetically-pleasing

I received a digital copy of this title from the publisher via Netgalley.

Ten Second Synopsis:
Reader, find in this tome the true-life stories of fantastical beasts that roam the North American landscape. From the Gumberoo to the Hodag, and the Snoligoster to the Timberdoodle (although this one only gets a passing mention), everyone’s favourite obscure mythical beasts are given their terrifying due in this not-to-be-missed instructional guide.

This book possesses disarmingly hilarious turns of phra ...more

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Jun 06, 2016 Erin rated it it was amazing

I picked this book up at wizard world in philly and I'm very glad I did! I was pulled in because it reminded me of the Scary Story compilations I read as a kid and the artwork was so unique and creepy. I was even more happy with it as I started to read it. The stories aren't just scary, they're darkly funny and even though a lot of the jokes will go over my kids heads, I certainly appreciate it. I tried reading a few stories to my youngest (5) but then quickly realized it was just a tad too dark ...more

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Jan 02, 2017 Dylan rated it really liked it

Fearsome Creatures of the Lumberwoods was an delightfully eerie little book that was funny. I laughed out loud several times reading this book - two or three times per entry, even. The humour is dark. Very dark. The creatures are wonderfully imaginative. The illustrations are creepy but endearing. What's not to love about this book?

My only concern is that this book is shelved in the "Early Readers" (ages 6-8) and this is likely beyond them. It's not that it will be too scary, though it very well ...more

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Jan 22, 2018 Gevera Piedmont rated it really liked it · review of another edition

This is hilarious. Kids most love it.

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Jan 29, 2015 mwr rated it it was amazing

Shelves: living-author, american, ya, 2015, 32-33

I laughed loud and hard enough while waiting at the mechanic for someone to comment that this must be a good book. While the creatures might be the most fearsome, the humans are at least as terrifying (Gavrillo Princip makes an appearance). There is good humor, and the material can talk to its target age bracket without talking down to them, which is not an easily pulled off feat. The back-matter is a very nice touch as well (death fears the hodag!).

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Jun 29, 2016 Naomi Coyle rated it really liked it

Hilarious and horrifying, both in amounts I'm frankly shocked by. I knew it would be both, but I didn't expect to laugh so much - and then to have the stories haunting in the back of my mind for days after I read them. The way I've been describing it to people as I read it is, "It's like if Lemony Snicket wrote Welcome To Night Vale". Some of the stories are better than others of course, but the collection as a whole begins and ends solidly either way. Very fun! ...more

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Dec 13, 2015 Barbra rated it really liked it

This retelling of twenty beasts from American folklore reads like a field guide. The pen and ink illustrations are amped up with some glow-in-the dark monsters. A creepy fantastical book that would be perfect around the campfire. This will appeal to readers ages ten to 14 who like the weird and scary.

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Jan 17, 2018 Fwdecker rated it it was amazing

I got this book to read to my 6 year old. But I really l really like it as well. Very funny & dry & tongue-in-cheek.

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About Hal Johnson

Hal Johnson

128 followers

I don't think Hal Johnson is a very unusual sort of a guy. He's just -- well, the average American citizen and family man, the kind that are the backbone of the nation. I admire him and like him. I like his attitude. Until, that is, he gets behind the wheel of an automobile. At that point he changes. He changes from a careful, considerate citizen—to a menace.

–"Driven to Kill," 1948 driver's safety ...more